“A big part of it is that from the first moment you come to Harvard, the first people you meet are people from the team,” he said. “I’d been for the first 10 days of my Harvard experience exclusively with the cross country team, stuck in the woods of New Hampshire with nothing to do, so you get to know people pretty well.”

Saretsky also pointed out Chenoweth’s contributions to the team’s improvement and success as a whole.

“He works incredibly hard and sets a fantastic example for the other guys on the team,” Saretsky said. “He’s done an increasingly better job of speaking up when necessary, advocating for his other teammates, letting them know what needs to get done to develop as a program.”

Chenoweth has set the bar high for his teammates and himself and is already looking forward to his senior-year season.

“I definitely just want to do better,” he said in reference to his performance on the national stage. “And I think I’m capable of doing a lot better.”

Looks like Chenoweth won’t be needing any more of that middle-school encouragement.